Feeding mechanism



Dec. 21 1926. 1,611,636

J. M. DRIVER FEEDING MEGHANI SM Filed May 22 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 21 192 1,611,636

.J. M. DRIVER FEEDING MECHANISM Filed May 22, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet Z 1&4)

Dec. 21 Q1926. 1,611,636

J. M. DRIVER FEEDING MEGHANI SM Filed May 22 1925 5 Sheets-Shee'z 3 Dec. 21 1926. 1,611,636

J. M. DRIVER FEEDING MECHANISM Filed May 22, 2925 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 J. M. DRIVER FEEDING MBGHANI SM 6 Filed my 2 1626 5 Shets-Sheet s Patented Dec, El, 1926.

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PHILADELPHIA, MANIA.

FEEDING IvIEGHANISIr/I.

Application filed May 22, 1925. Serial No. 32,631.

This invention relates particularly to that class of mechanism in which two machines are combined in such manner as to form what in effect is an integral machine.

The principal object of the invention is to provide means whereby standard machines may be so united without material modification.

More specifically the principal object of the invention is to provide conveyingmechanism adapted to compensate for variations in the speed with which the articles are delivered by one mechanism and taken up by the succeeding mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide in compact form machine includin); both forming and printing mechanisms.

The invention further resides in certain novel and advantageous features of construct-ion as hereinafter fully described and as illustrated in the attached drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation in more or less diagrammatic form, illustrating mechanism made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the essential portions of the conveying mechanism;

Fig. 3 is enlarged sectional elevation taken on the line 33, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on the line 4 4, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on the line 5 5, Fig. 3;

F 6 is a detached view in elevation of one of the art-iclegripping units of the conveyer.

Fin". '7 is an end view of the unit shown in Fig. 6, and I Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation of a port-ion of the feeding mechanism illustrating a modification within the scope of. the invention.

With reference to the drawings, T have indicated at 1 and 9. the delivery rolls of a machine for cutting rolled paper stock into sheets of predetermined lengths, for use in a bag forming machine, an envelope forming machine, or other similar article-forming; mechanism, while 3 indicates the impression cylinder of a printing machine, the type cylinders of which are indicated by the reference numerals i and 5.

Intermediate these two mechanisms, I provide a transfer or conveyer mechanism which in the present instance comprises a supporting frame consisting of side frames 6-6, and transverse stay rods 6 6 having journaled therein at the end adjacent the delivery rolls 1 and 2 transverse shaft 7, which supports a series of narrow rollers 8 arranged in spaced relation, each of said rollers constituting a pulley for a belt 9 passing therearound and around the delivery roller 2, as clearly illustrated in Figs. and 8. For tensioningr the belts 9, 1 pro vide a series of arms 10 carried by a transverse bar 11 in the frame 6-6, see Figs. and 5, the arms 10 extending; upwardly between the belts 9 and car'ying at their outer ends rollers 12, which the re spective belts. Each of the arms 10 is secured to the supporting bar 11 by means of a set screw 13 providing for adjustment of the arm to afford a proper tensioning of the belts 9.

Carried upon a rectangular transverse shaft or bar 14 secured in the frame 6-43, see Figs. 3 and 5, is a series of narrow supporting bars 15 extending longitudinally of the upper reach of the belts 9 and project ing upwardly into the spaces between the said belts, the upper surface of the arms 15 lying substantially in the same plane as the upper surface of the belts 9, as best illustrated in Fig. 5. Each of the arms 15 is provided with a hub portion 16 having a rectangular transverse opening therein to accommodate the bar 14, and each of the hubs 16 is provided with a set screw 17 by means of which the hub may be secured firmly to the bar. lit will be noted that the upper ends of the arms 15 lie closely adjacent the rolls 1 and 2, while the lower ends of the said arms lie intermediate a pair of parallel transverse shafts 18 and 19 journaled in the frame 6-6.

The shaft- 18 carries a cylinder 20 which, shown in Fig. 1, is formed with a series circumferential and peripheral grooves 21 of such depth as to accommodate the lower ends of the arms 15. The shaft 18 is secured in the cylinder 20 which carries, one at each of its ends, a pair of sprocket wheels 22 each of which is engaged by a sprocket chain 23 extending: under sprockets 24. 25 and 26, carried respectively by shafts 27, 28 and 29 suitably journaled in the frame 6-6, and around sprockets 30 on the power shaft 31011 the rotary printing press of vhich 1 the impression cylinder 3 and the type cylmders 4: and 5 are parts. Obviously the chains 2323 transmit the necessary motive power to the feeding mechanism from the main power shaft 31.

Carried by and extending transversely between the chains 23, 23, and projecting inwardly therefrom are a series of bars 3', shown in Fig. 6, each of which has journaled therein a shaft 33 on which are adj ustably se cured gripper elements or clips 34, 34. In the present instance, each of these clips, whose general shape is clearly illustrated in the drawings, include a split hub as shown in Fig. 7. for reception of the shaft 33 and a bolt 35 is provided by means of which each of these elements may be secured in an ad justed position on the shaft. The shaft also carries a pair of springs 3 36, which tend to retain the shaft 33 in such angular position that the hooked ends of the clamps 34 bear against the upper or outer surface of the bar 32, this being the article-gripping or operative position of the said clamps. The shaft 33 also is provided at one end with an arm 37 which is adapted to engage a cam 38 supported in the present instance upon the shaft 18 and upon a transverse rod 39 suitably secured in the side frames 6-6, as shown in Fig. 4:, the cam being positioned in the path of the arms 37 as they advance with the sprocket chains, whereby the shaft 33 is oscillated at intervals to properly operate the gripper elements 34.

As previously stated, the bars 32 project from the inner side of the sprocket chain, and it is accordingly necessary to provide in the clinder 20 a transverse recess 40, as shown in Fig. 3. The bars 32 are so placed on the chain that during each revolution of the shaft 18, the recess 40 is brought into a position to receive a bar and its associated clamping elements.

The sprocket chains 23, 23, with the connecting bars 32 and the clamping elements 34, 34, constitute the conveyer by means of which articles delivered from the rolls 1 and 2 are conducted to the cylinders 3, 4L- and 5 of the rotary printing press. Means accordingly is provided for receiving the articles from the chain and for passing them into the rotary printing press. In the present instance, the impression cylinder 3 is provided with a pair of gripper elements 41, one of which is shown in Fig. 1. These grippers are somewhat similar to the gripper elements 34: but form no part of the present invention except in the general combination of elements These gripper elements 41 are mounted upon a shaft 42 supported in the cylinder 3, and the shaft may have at its outor end an arm 43 cooperating with a fixed cam at to operate the clamps i substantially the same manner as the clamps 34: previously described. Since these gripper elements form a part of the rotary printing press and are well understood in the art, it is unnecessary to further describe them.

In the present instance, the grippers 3d on the conveyer chains are so positioned and the conveyer chain is run at such speed that at each revolution of the impression cylinder 3 the grippers 41 are brought into a position to receive an article from one aair of the gripper elements 34lon the conveyer chains, the said article thereby being carried into and through the printing mechanism.

A cam disc 38, suitably mounted on the shaft 31, is designed to engage the arm 37 of each successively advanced conveyer gripper unit, to release the grippers 3% thereof from the retained article, at the point of transfer of such article from the conveyer to the press roll 3.

In operating this compound machine, the delivery roll 2 rotates at the same speed as the cylinder 3, and since the roll 2 is not ordinari y of the same diameter as the cylinder 3, it is necessary to provide some means to compensate for this difference in peri 3heral speeds and the consequent difference in the velocity at which the articles are delivered from the rolls 1 and 2 and received by the cylinder 3. For this purpose, I provide on the shaft 19 a cam to which engages a roller 46 on the end of an arm 4L7 secured to and depending from a shaft 4-8 journaled in bracket arms e9, 49, at the top of the frame 6-6. The shaft 18 also carries a pair of arms 50, 50, which extend downwardly to a point adjacent the lower ends of the bars 15,the lower ends of the arms 50 projecting into certain of the circumferential recesses 21 in the cylinder 20. Since these arms project at their lower ends below the upper edge of the arms 15, they constitute a stop for an article discharged by the delivery rolls 1 and 2 and passing down the upper reach of the belt 9 and adjacent edges of the arms The arms 50 are so positioned that they retain the said article, as shown in 3, with its lower edge in posi tion to be gripped by the spring controlled clamps 3e on the chain conveyer, and the cam is so formed and positioned that immediately following or simultaneously with the gripping of the article by the clamps 34-v the shaft 48 is rocked to carry the arms 50 rearwardly and out of the article which advanced with the chains 23, 23. A spring 51 secured to the frame and to the arm tends to hold the arm firmly against the cam 4-5.

In order to insure the proper the clamps and to positively action of hold the to be semi- UIE sheets or other articles in position gripped thereby. I provide a pair of circular disks 52 adjustahly secured to the shaft 19 in the present instance by set screws The liameter of these disks is such that they engage and closely confine path of the the delivered article between themselves and the gripper bars 32 to prevent the forward edge of the article, about to be engaged by the grippers, from bending upwardly out of position and thereby positively insuring the grippers taking effect. The disks 5 are so arranged that they engage the article immediately prior to the operation of the grippers as. It will be noted that t disks are so located that they engage article immediately adjacent the points a which the grippers 3% take hold, and the the shaft 19 is journaled in bearings whic are adjustable as clearly shown in Fig. 1 with respect to the shaft 18.

As further insuring the proper positioning of the articles, I provide upon the shaft 19 a wheel 54 around whicl passes a be t 5.3, the belt also passing around an idler pulley 56 carried by a short shaft 57 journaled in the end of a bifurcated arm 58 adjust bly mounted on a transverse shaft A. set screw 60 is employed in the present instance for securing this arm 58 to the shaft This belt 55 engages the sheets as they leave the belts 9 and insures that they pass down into contact with the arms 50. To insure a proper spacing of the articles transversely, I provide upon the cross bar 59 pair of side plates 61, see Fig. 4, which are adjustably secured on the cross bar and project downwardly so as to constitute guards limiting the transverse movement of the article on the support arms 15.

Intermediate the delivery rolls 1 and 2 and the printing mechanism and in position below the latter to receive the printed articles discharged from the printing mecha nism, I provide an endless conveyor belt 62, and at the forward end of this conveyer belt a hopper or receptacle 63 adapted to receive the articles from the conveyer 62v The receptacle 63 is pivotally mounted at or on a horizontal axis permitting the tilting of the receptacle 63 to a desired extent to insure the proper stacking of the articles in the bottom of the receptacle. The receptacle is supported upon a vertical post (55 adjustable vertically in the frame 6. The forward end of the conveyor is also adjustably supported upon a pair of posts 66 vertically adjustable in the frame 6 6.

The conveyer 62 is driven by a belt 72 which passes around a cone pulley 73 on the shaft 27 and a second cone pulley Yet on the shaft 75 which serves to support and drive a broad faced roll 76 around which the conveyer 62 passes, at one of its ends, the opposite end encircling an idler roll 77, both rolls being suitably journaled in an adjustable frame 78.

Gear wheels 80 and 81 on the shafts 18 and 19, respectively, serve to synchronize the rotations of these shafts, the shaft 18 serving as the driver which in turn is driven by the chains 23-23 through the medium. of the sprockets 2222 secured thereto.

in operation, the articles or sheets are discharged successively by the delivery rolls 1 and 2 onto the belts 9-9 and the arms 15, and are passed down the latter and brought into engagement with the stop arms 50 through the action of the belts 99 and the belt 55. As previously described, an article held in the proper position by the steps 59 and the semi-circular disks 62 will be gripped by the grippers 34 on the corn veyer chains 23 and thereafter conducted to the impression cylinder 3, which will in troduce it into the printing mechanism. From the printing mechanism, the said article will be discharged upon the belt 62 and passed to the receptacle 63, from which the operator will remove the stack formed by a number of successively delivered sheets Or articles.

The mechanism is capable of material modification without departure from the invention, and in Fig. 8, I have illustrated a modification of the sheet-positioning means. In this instance, the belt 55 is eliminated and the articles drop freely from the delivery rolls 1 and 2 down the inclined supporting arm 15 until they are stopped by the arms 50. In Order to insure the sheets being held down in position for proper action of the grippers 34;, I provide a camactuated arm 67, this arm being oscillated periodically through the medium of the cam 68. In this instance, the articles are gripped to one side of the center line passing through the shafts 18 and 19, and the flexibility of the conveyer at that point provides a certain amount of leeway over that shown in the previously described embodiment, in which the articles are gripped substantially on the line between the two shafts. In the modification of Fig, 8, corresponding ele ments are given the same reference numerals as in the previously described embodiment.

Obviously there may be many other modifications without departure from the invention.

It claim:

The combination with article delivery mechanism, of a plurality of spaced parallel and inclined elements adapted to receive said delivered articles, a stop limiting the movement of the articles on the said inclined supports, a conveyor, gripper elements on the conveyer, means for actuating said gripper elements to take hold of articles held by said stop, mechanism for shifting the stops from the path of the articles on the conve er arintino mechanism means for re-' moving the articles from the conveyor and. introducing them into the printing mechanism, and a receptacle for the printed articles intermediate the delivery mechanism. and the printing mechanism.

JOHN M. DRIVER. 

